Movies I Love: Ghostbusters (2016)

I just got back from the movies and I have to say, all my fears of the new Ghostbusters reboot not living up to its predecessor? FEARS GONE! Whoosh! Out the window! (Like many other things in the movie.)

I’ve been a bad pop culture fan and haven’t seen anything since, I think, Crimson Peak, but this was definitely a worthy choice to dip my toe back into giving the entertainment industry lots of my money. Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones rocked it. There wasn’t a single moment where I was like “this is a totally implausible thing for a woman to do”, which, as a woman, is an incredibly bizarre thing to worry about but I blame all the dude-bro bashing pre-release. These women nailed it. Kristen Wiig’s character Erin was all up in that science shit that went way over my head because I stopped studying Physics around force maps and gravitational pull, but she rocked the shit out of the “trying to be a respectable scientist but secret nerd at heart” vibe. And Melissa McCarthy’s Abby was just out there, no-holds-bards nerding it up and loving every second of it. Also, her interactions with the delivery boy Bennie were hysterical. I love Bennie.

Why do people say there were no male roles in the movie? There was Bennie the delivery boy, and Chris Hemsworth’s Kevin was a riot. It’s hard to reconcile in my brain that Kevin and Thor are played by the same person. I loved the tour guide in the beginning (Gilbert? It’s not on IMDB.) and Rowan was just this hysterical brand of crazy that made me kind of want to take him home and feed him soup but also lock him in a padded cell for his own safety. (Or in my basement so he could build me made cool shit that hopefully would not cause the apocalypse.)

But really? My favorites? Patty and Holtzmann. Kate McKinnon’s Holtzmann instantly pinged me as an eccentric lesbian scientist and I love it. I hope they make her sexuality cannon. Or at least bisexual since she did think Kevin was pretty, but not nearly as much as Wiig’s character. I loved Holtzmann so, so much. And then there’s Patty, played by Leslie Jones. Poor Patty, who just wants to do her job as security on the subway and maybe get people to stop and recognize her as a person now and then, just to say hi. But at the same time she was tough and strong and probably the most practical of the four. She’s not a scientist, but the way she spouts of historical facts of New York City is just wonderful.

They brought back the old tech. They brought back the theme song and the logo. There were tons of cameos by the cast of the original movie, but that was just a side. They really took the story of Ghostbusters and they made it their own thing. They made it new and awesome and everything I could have wanted. And they didn’t make it a story about girl Ghostbusters. They made it a story about Ghostbusters. Gender need not apply.